Xyzzy

Refundable tickets get refunded to the original form of payment. Airlines sometimes miss this and will refund to an ETC, but that's very rare. I certainly would not count on it.

Bikeguy

I know due to two experiences that NW will allow you to use your refundable ticket to buy a more expensive ticket, whether refundable or not, paying the difference with cash or credit.

The problem comes in with the refund rules of the higher priced ticket. Typically, they are very restrictive for non-refundable intl flights on NW.

One way around this is to potentially buy a ticket to Hawaii for you and your other 9 family members on a nonrefundable fare. I just thought of this while typing this post. I will have to look into this.

Xyzzy

Any airline will allow you to apply a refundable ticket's value toward the purchase of a more expensive ticket.This can easily be done for a non-refundable ticket, but not for a refundable one. For a non-refundable ticket, the originally-ticketed passenger keeps the same PNR for the new ticket, the airline issues a credit memo and that is immediately used to purchase the tickets on a separate PNR for (to use your example) the 9 family members. If the ticket is refundable, the excess is supposed to be refunded to the original form of payment. This may vary slightly depending on the airline and the agent you get, but in general it is not supposed to.

Bikeguy

Excellent. I guess the down side is the multiple cancellation fees. So, the goal would be to get the most expensive non-refundable ticket with just a cancellation fee. And to wait until I can do it on DL, so the vouchers can be used by anyone.

I finally have a plan.

The NW refundable ticket was generated in a panic during the last few hours before the first TYP deval occurred. At least it wasn't on Vietnam Air!

Thanks for the insight, xyzzy!

Xyzzy

Yes -- presuming your current ticket is a refundable one. Getting an expensive non-refundable ticket is easily accomplished by buying an expensive refundable ticket with a cheap non-refundable segment added on. They don't even have to be connected. You can do, say, JFK-SFO-JFK in F and tack on a non-refundable DFW-IAH segment. Remember, the most restrictive rules apply to the whole ticket. The key is to find a non-refundable ticket with a low change fee. Right now $150 seems to be the lowest, at least for CO whose rules I am most familiar with.

Bikeguy

My current ticket is fully refundable, and is now worth about $150 more than it was about 2 years ago when originally purchased.

I guess I was interpreting the most restrictive rules as the ones saying you must fly the same intl route and having to switch the whole thing to nonrefundable. But keeping the bulk of the ticket refundable and tacking on a DTW-ORD non-refundable segment never occurred to me. Nice. ^

NW is also $150. I think I'll do better to wait until fall for DL though for reasons of longevity and who it can be assigned to.

It's always a good day when you learn something new on FT.

Well, next time I see you, expect a beverage of choice on me.

Xyzzy

You may not be able to do that. That kind of change will likely require a reissue, but you will almost certainly be able to trade the existing ticket for another similar ticket that has one cheap non-refundable segment.

fygood

I booked a refundable continental airline ticket via a thankyou network. It is a fully refundable ticket, since my travel plan changes, I used the "change ticket" option on http://www.continental.com under "my reservations". When I tried to change the ticket, the website told me that "The amount of $2***.** will be refunded to a Continental Airlines Travel Certificate." However, when I called continental customer service last night, the agent told me that the money had been refunded to the original credit card that was used to buy the ticket, which is apparently different from what the website told me. I talked with several supervisors and mangers about this issue, and they all tell me that there is nothing can be done. They even refused to admit that what the website says is wrong. I asked them to try to do the same thing as I did yesterday, they said they are experts and they don't need to do that. In addition, they told me it is all my fault and there is nothing wrong with continental. Later, I thought at least I can get my partial TYP back, today I called TYN, they told me that they cannot refund me any thankyou points since the points are non-refundable. I said, the money was refunded to you, why cannot refund some points back to me? They kept saying that the points are non-refundable regardless.
I need people's help! Thank you very much in advance!

stupenal

Change fees were deducted from the total value of the ticket. Only out of pocket was the original tax I paid (which was refunded in the voucher).

fygood

I booked a refundable continental airline ticket via a thankyou network. It is a fully refundable ticket, since my travel plan changes, I used the "change ticket" option on http://www.continental.com under "my reservations". When I tried to change the ticket, the website told me that "The amount of $2***.** will be refunded to a Continental Airlines Travel Certificate." However, when I called continental customer service last night, the agent told me that the money had been refunded to the original credit card that was used to buy the ticket, which is apparently different from what the website told me. I talked with several supervisors and mangers about this issue, and they all tell me that there is nothing can be done. They even refused to admit that what the website says is wrong. I asked them to try to do the same thing as I did yesterday, they said they are experts and they don't need to do that. In addition, they told me it is all my fault and there is nothing wrong with continental. Later, I thought at least I can get my partial TYP back, today I called TYN, they told me that they cannot refund me any thankyou points since the points are non-refundable. I said, the money was refunded to you, why cannot refund some points back to me? They kept saying that the points are non-refundable regardless.
I need people's help! Thank you very much in advance!

scottsd

I think that for CO, they charge you the change fee out of pocket, rather than deduct from your residual value voucher.

scottsd

Can I ask why it is better to wait to change your DL tik until Fall?
I too have a DL Bus Class tik I am waiting to change.
Thanks
Scott

gregorygrady

There's no reason to change your ticket until you need to fly. Once you change your ticket the 1-year expiration clock on your funds starts (which granted can be extended probably, but with a little extra work). Plus the longer you wait, the better possibility of there being a schedule change so you can get out of the $150 change fee. ^

gv111

So how exactly do you know of a schedule change? Does the airline send you an email or do you have to just keep checking yourself?

gregorygrady

Normally the schedule change is listed in the reservation when you pull it up in big bold red letters. Oftentimes the airline will call you as well, although sometimes not right away after the schedule change.